1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an equipment control unit for use in providing centralized control for a plurality of equipment.
2. Related Background Art
There is a strong desire for a copying apparatus to have additional and higher functions, so that copying apparatus is becoming increasingly more complex in construction and function. Also, the number of copying apparatuses installed within one company is increasing. Thus, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,875, it is well known that in order to manage the use and operation, maintenance, and the appropriate and rapid repair of faults, the normal use conditions and the functional data of the copying apparatus are collected by a management department within the company or a special dealer for centralized control.
A copying apparatus has also been proposed in which by calling a specific external device with, for example, a telephone number to make the communication through a communication line, the transmission or reception of data can be made to the external device installed at the management department periodically or at any time.
However, when it was necessary to change or adjust the copying control data set onto the copying apparatus at its manufacture, a serviceman had to go to the installed site of the copying apparatus to change the setting of the copying control data, so that there was a problem that rapid measures could not be taken.
Also, when it was necessary to change the telephone number of a specific external device after the installation of the copying apparatus, the serviceman had to go to the copying apparatus to make the changed input operation, which resulted in time-consuming work.
Also, there was a problem that if the initial conditions to start the communication, for example, a partner's telephone number, a password, and an identification code (hereinafter referred to as ID) might be set unduly or improperly, the apparatus would communicate with an unauthorized or wrong destination so that the data would be wrongly transmitted or received to or from that destination.